The latest reset on the Midi had everyone heading for the freeride zone in the Cosmiques and Rond. Will has shin splints and I needed some exercise, so we decided to go tour even though the train was closed with trees on the line. There wasn’t much snow stuck on the south side of the Midi Arrete, so we bailed on the Grand Envers approach and went for first tracks on the low angled pow on the Gros Rognan.
The snow kept changing with aspects and with it our minds on which of the 3 Tacul tours to do. Finally deciding to go to Breche Tacul we got to 50 m from the ridge and were falling into holes in the unconsolidated wind blown snow. That decided it – Capucin.
At the Col I could push my pole completely into the snow and not touch rock. Finding the anchor required a lot of digging with the showel!
There was some good cold snow down the right side which we hugged tightly to avoid sluff activity coming of the sunny side on the left. The skiing was fun and it was great to be out in the mountains after such a long period of unsettled weather. Thanks also the American team behind for waiting and not sluffing us out.
After the walk down to Chamonix it was definitely beer o’clock!
Ross Hewitt Guiding 